Hard to Say Goodbye
by Daimyo Oowashi
Summary: Dawn reminices of her journey with Ash after they have partways. Pearlshipping.


Hi everyone, I'm back. This is a new story, which serves as the prequel of Dawn's Search For Love, an ongoing story of mine. This fanfic takes place when Ash and Dawn (*coughs* and Brock, not nice to ignore him) end their journeys in story is a one-sided Pearlshipping fanfic, in Dawn's POV, cause Ash is such a clueless and naive teenager.

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The sun was setting, spraying the goldish colour in the sky, reflected off the sea water and the brick road on the shores. It is quite beautiful, but most people do not enjoy the scenary, as it's a common cliche to say goodbye and see their close ones off. This goes for the same with our heroes, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and his traveller partners Dawn from Twinleaf Town and Brock from Pewter City.

Ash has always wanted to be the very best, like no one ever was (I mean Pokemon Master), and he got closer to his goal by gaining the Top 4 in the Sinnoh League, defeating his long time rival, Paul. Dawn, on the other hand, wants to be a Top Contest Coordinator. She did quite good as a new coordinator by ending up in the Final Round of the Grand Festival, and losing in a close contest battle to rival Zoey. Brock is a Pokemon Breeder, but he had just resolved to be a Pokemon Doctor, after the gang's recent encounters on a cruise ship.

The gang is at the port in Sandgem Town. Now that the Sinnoh Grand Festival and the Sinnoh League has finished. It was time for the gang to say goodbye to each other, and head towards their own journeys and goals. Ash and Brock were returning to Kanto and split their roads there. While Dawn initially wanted to come to Kanto with them, as she has always wanted to visit Ash's place in Pallet Town, although a new oppotunity was arise for Dawn and Buneary to become a Pokemon Model in a photo shoot. Dawn was very happy for Buneary winning the hearts of the judges in Hearthome Collection, but she was also disappointed that she would miss out on a chance to be with Ash.

That's right, the bluenette has a crush on the raven-hair trainer, since they started their journey together. Now many of you will realise the reason why Dawn was not going to enjoy the beautiful sunset (idk about Ash, but he has a lower-than-zero EQ level, one battle freak). It must be very sad to see one's crush off to a faraway region, not sure when the couple will meet again. To be honest, Dawn wasn't sad, she was devastated.

"This is it, the final moment. What should I do? Should I confess my feelings to Ash? Or should I remain silent, just watching Ash walk away on me?" Dawn thought, looking at the raven-haird trainer, who has done so much for her. She still hasn't confessed her feelings yet, because as I have mentioned earlier, Ash is super dense, not to mention that Dawn had not gathered enough courage to do so in the past. "If I had confessed to Ash, I would have felt way better by now, oh what should I do?"

"Hoot..." Dawn's thoughts were interrupted by the ship's horn. "Dawn, it's time for us to go now." Brock said, while Ash nodded standing next to him. Dawn stared at his chocolate brown eyes, and reluctantly spoke, "Well you guys better get going. Bye for now." Brock and Ash smiled and turned their backs, heading for the boat.

"Awww, man... Ash is getting further and further away from me. I have to stop him from leaving me!" Dawn thought, then shouted her next words aloud, "Wait, Ash!" Ash stopped, turning to the girl, and looked at her blue eyes questioningly. Dawn raised her hand into the air, like a secret signal. Ash understood it, his face lit up, and jumped forward to high-five with Dawn's risen hand. Their hands stayed connected for a while and locked eyes. Dawn felt her heart beating rapidly, blushing.

Reluctantly, Dawn put down her hand, and saw Piplup and Pikachu exchange their own high-five, before closing in for a friendly hug. Dawn looked at them silently, blushing. "I wish I can do this to Ash, but somehow I just could not hold myself together to do so," Dawn thought, feeling like there was a Butterfree dancing in her stomach. She looked up, "Don't miss your boat, Ash-y boy," she said quietly but soothingly. Ash looked at Dawn, shocked at her calling his nickname. He dismissed his thought, then followed Brock and Pikachu, boarding onto the boat.

Dawn looked at their backs, and couldn't take it longer anymore. She closed her eyes, and started to whimper, "Hmph... Ash... I really wanted to tell you that I love you..." She whispered, tears dripping down her face from her eyes.

"Dawn!" Dawn heard Ash calling her name from the sailing ship. "Oh no! I don't want Ash to see me like this! I don't want him to worry about me!" She stopped crying and looked up. Ash was standing on the tail deck of the ship, and shouted, "Dawn! No need to worry!" Dawn's face lit up when she heard Ash shouting out her catchphrase. She ran down the dock, laughing happily, "No need to worry! Ash, Brock, Pikachu, thanks for everything!" She shouted at the boat. When the ship sailed out her vision, Dawn whispered, "I love you, Ash..." She blushed heavily and ran at the opposite direction, with Piplup following right behind.

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-Half a hour later-Dawn ran back home, then upstairs to her room, ignoring her mother's queries. She jumped onto her comfortable bed and cried loudly, hugging her pillow. Johanna entered Dawn's room and looked at her, concerned. "Dawn, my dear. What happended. You can always talk to me," She said, sitting down on Dawn's bed. Dawn sobbed, "Mum, do you know what it feels like to lose someone you love very much?" "Yes. When your father passed away, I was so heartbroken I had pause everything I was doing, including Pokemon contests. Why do you ask this?" Johanna said seriously.

"Well, the thing is, Mum, I love Ash so much. I just can't bare to see him leaving me. I haven't even told him my feelings yet, and I'm not sure when I will see him again. Waaah..." Dawn weeped. "There there. You will see him again some day. When you do so, I'm sure you'll be brave enough to tell him how you feel," Johanna stood up, "I'm going to make you some of your favourite cookies. I'll call you when they're ready." "Thanks, Mum." Dawn whispered, feeling a little better.

Johanna smiled and walked downstairs. "Looks like I was right to let Dawn travel with Ash and Brock when she started her journey. Ash must have been treating her like a princess, or she wouldn't felt that way to him," Johanna said to herself, "Somehow he reminds me of Dawn's father and our journey together. I would love to have a future son-in-law just like him." She blushed and chuckled.

Dawn stood up, and walked to the bookshelf. She pulled out a photo album from the second shelf, and stared at it. The album is quite new, with a bright-pink cover and bubbles and love shapes printed all over it. She opened the album, which the first page says, "My Journey". She quickly flipped through the album, until reaching the middle page. She looked at the sub-title page, "Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town," she read her handwriting quietly. Then she flipped the page. The first photo was Ash, in Professor Rowan's lab. He was standing next to a table which had a package of stuff his mother had sent him. He was holding his new shirt, smiling.

Dawn sighed looking at the photo, "Ash sure looks handsome in that outfit." She blushed and flipped over. On the next page was a photo of Ash staring at Paul angrily, shouting at him. Dawn laughed when she saw it, then she shifted her eyes to the photo on the right. It was a photo of Ash training, with the then Staravia using Brave Bird, Buizel using Aqua Jet, Chimchar using Flame Wheel and Pikachu using Volt Tackle. Clearly their target was Ash, who was drawing the attacks intentionally and dodging them, like a living training target. "Ash can be hot headed sometimes, but he sure is amazing." Dawn laughed and said to herself, and flipped over, looking at a photo of a depressed Ash after his full battle loss against Paul.

"Poor Ash, feeling low after losing to Paul. I just felt like hugging him like a teddy bear and kiss him, just to make him feel better." Dawn said, her face red like a beetroot. She looked at another photo on the right, stunned. Brock took this photo, which depicted Pikachu and Piplup hugging each other and acting like they're in love. Ash and Dawn were standing next to each other very closely, holding the two Pokemon in their arms.

"This is very embarassing, but it's pretty cute for me to hang onto Ash," Dawn continued blushing, noticing her extremely close distance with the male teenage trainer, "Nevertheless, I felt ecstatic holding onto Ash back then. It felt like snuggling into a soft blanket. I really enjoy touching him. It makes me feel like I'm in heaven. Damn I miss that feeling." Dawn smiled and put the album back to the bookshelf. "As soon as we get over this photo shoot thing. Let's start a new journey. A journey to search for Ash Ketchum, my one and only love. What do you say, Piplup?" She proclaimed to Piplup, who just climbed onto Dawn's desk to take a nap.

"Pip, Piplup!" Piplup cheered happily. He would be very happy to meet Pikachu again. He had always viewed the electric mouse Pokemon as one senior to him and respected him. He had always wanted to become a leader and diplomat of Pokemon, just like Pikachu was. Although he was not as experienced, powerful and influential as the yellow mouse, Piplup had learned a lot from him. The two had become very close friends as they knew it.

"Dawn, Piplup! The cookies are ready!" Johanna shouted from the kitchen downstairs.

"Coming!" Dawn shouted after picking up Piplup. "Ash, you'd better be waiting for me!"

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Me: Well this concludes the story. Do you like it? I think it gets a little bit trashy in the end. Finally, it's time to enjoy the Christmas holidays.  
Dawn: (Sobs) Ash... Waaah!  
Me: Alright, alright! I'll continue working on my other fanfic!  
Dawn: (Stops crying) Well you better be! I can't wait to see Ash again! When I meet him again, I will...  
Me: Sure, sure... Why don't cool it and enjoy Christmas?  
Dawn: How can I enjoy it without Ash on my side? This is the worst Christmas of my life! (Cries)  
Me: (Facepalms) Don't worry, I will bring you two together. Please review, fav, or whatever. Positive criticism is appreciated. Rude comments and shipping-bashing are not! And lastly, have a merry jolly Christmas!

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Disclaimer: Pokemon is a trademark belonged to Gamefreak and Nintendo, Inc. The names of the characters and Pokemon, as well as certain elements in the storyline, are the intellectual properties of Nintendo, Inc. I know many of us are looking forward to download the Zoroark: Master of Illusions movie this holiday, after the DVD just came out. Nevertheless, we still have to respect Nintendo's rights!


End file.
